Of all the creatures God has created, squirrels have a special place in my heart. Reflecting brings back memories of these furry wonders from my childhood. Almost weekly my grandma would invite me over to her house to help with the yard. It is there I would see her love for squirrels. Every day she would arise to put some food in an old, galvanized trash can lid at the base of a live oak tree. Not long after a squirrel would show himself nervously eye-spying the territory to see if he could grab a bite to eat. When I would return home squirrels leaped from oak tree to oak tree in the city park, we lived nearby. It amazed me how park squirrels had no fear of people. If you had a loaf of bread, you could get a friendship going in no time at all with one of these red-headed wonders.
Though these childhood memories are grand, what reserved a part of my heart for squirrels was my wife’s boundless love for them. Long ago she suffered from a diabetic comma which would leave her with permeant disability. When she awoke from the comma, she had to begin her life all over again. She remembered nothing, not even how to feed herself or basic tasks we all take for granted. By the grace of Jesus, she survived and would undergo a long, but miraculous journey of healing. At some point she took an interest in helping a lady near us care for squirrels she rescued after storms.
Over a matter of a year our home would become a “wildlife” rehab for squirrels. Some of the squirrels Lisa would take in were no bigger than one of your fingers. She would get up all hours of the night to feed them milk as they grew into strong healthy adults. Once they were strong enough, she would release them into our backyard filled with pecan trees. Like grandma we go out in the morning to put food out and see many squirrels in the garden. In recent years we discovered a family of flying squirrels living in the top of the tree canopy. I even built them a deluxe squirrel hotel. They come out hours after sunset flying from one tree to the next to get food from the feeders. From sunrise to well after sunset we are immersed in a wonderland of furry squirrels.
Several years ago, we became members of Jungle Gardens. I fell in love with this beautiful getaway as a place to go walk. The gardens are huge with miles of roads and secret trails winding through this nature escape. Along my walks I discovered a completely different kind of squirrel from the ones that live in our yard. They are small and have a grayish tint fur. Gray squirrels are incredibly skittish. Right on time they come out an hour or so before sunset to feed, which just happens to be when I like going for a walk. Unlike the foxtail squirrels in the park, getting close to these small creatures is difficult.
As you can imagine squirrels are a favorite subject of my wildlife photographs. Photographing gray squirrels is a huge challenge with them being small, skittish and creatures who like to come out when the light is going down. Capturing images of them has made me dig into my bag of tricks including placing fruit and nuts at various locations of the garden. I even bought a ghillie suit so I can get closer this winter. We’ll see if that works out.
Please visit my wildlife, nature and landscape gallery. You can purchase fine art prints of pictures I have taken over the past years of these precious babies. Stay tuned for we will be selling a yearly calendar for 2024 with twelve images from my collection. This is a wonderful gift for the holiday season.
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